


i used to think that the day would never come

by pinuspinea



Series: Swan Lake remixes [5]
Category: Swan Lake & Related Fandoms, Лебединое озеро - Чайковский | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Genre: Empty Nest Syndrome, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Marriage, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:20:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinuspinea/pseuds/pinuspinea
Summary: Von Rothbart, instead of mocking Siegfried at the ball, gives his blessing for Siegfried and Odile's marriage. This changes everything.Snapshots of the sorcerer who suddenly finds an ounce of decency in himself.
Relationships: Odette & Odile, Odette/Von Rothbart (Lebedínoye Ózero | Swan Lake), Odile/Prints Siegfried | Prince Siegfried (Lebedínoye Ózero | Swan Lake), Prints Siegfried | Prince Siegfried & Wolfgang (Lebedínoye Ózero | Swan Lake)
Series: Swan Lake remixes [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824241
Comments: 13
Kudos: 14





	i used to think that the day would never come

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Her_Madjesty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Her_Madjesty/gifts), [perennial](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perennial/gifts), [Pure_Anon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pure_Anon/gifts), [Mme de Croix](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Mme+de+Croix).



> I've had manic two days of writing this thing. I did not think I had happy endings in me, but I'm just as surprised and delighted as you probably are.
> 
> Dear Swan Lake comment club, here is the happy ending we've all longed for. (This is also a gift for Mme de Croix, although once again AO3 refuses to tag two anonymoys giftees.)

The ball is as magnificent as he wanted. Odile is the shining star collecting everyone's attention as she floats across the room, a delicate little thing decorating the prince's arms. The fool of a boy is already falling in love with her.

He's too young and dumb to realise what he sees is not what he thinks it is.

Siegfried makes a vow of eternal love. Von Rothbart's eyes sharpen and he makes his way across the crowd. The people part before him like cool water embracing the soft body of a swan, and he lowers a possessive hand on Odile's shoulder, but then he stops.

He looks carefully at his daughter, at the happy smile in her eyes and the rush of blood to her cheeks, listens to the echo of her nervous laughter and the thudding of her heart, and he pauses. In his mind's eye, he sees Odette again in the garden, young and mortal and so beautiful that everything in him ached just being close to her. He sees a hope that has yet to be crushed, a love that could be so much more, and he looks at his daughter and sees that he has been about to commit the same mistake again.

He takes a long moment gathering his words. Everyone is looking at them. Siegfried's eyes are nervous now and he keeps glancing between father and daughter.

"If you do not want him, you will not have to marry him," von Rothbart states carefully. "But if your heart is set on him, I will give you my blessing."

Odile blinks and looks at her father, still shaken. Already thoughts are forming in her mind's eye, thoughts von Rothbart did not think their daughter would yet have.

Von Rothbart almost hears Odette's gasp, seen from a thousand reflecting surfaces in the beautiful ballroom. Odile is quiet for a long moment, her hand still held softly by Siegfried, and then her eyes meet his.

"Eternity and a day?" she asks. Siegfried smiles.

"And more," the foolish boy promises though he cannot understand what such a promise means, not like the man who stands right in front of him.

Odile looks up to her father again.

"What about mama?" she asks in a small voice. Von Rothbart smiles.

"She will understand. She wouldn't want you to rush into marriage if you aren't absolutely certain, but she will understand either way."

Odette's feverish eyes stare at him from every gleaming pane of glass, from every polished metal surface, from every mirror and every thought. Her eyes are guarded, full of heartbreak and always so wondrous and beautiful, but there is something new in them. Von Rothbart meets them for a moment and knows that his Odette is seeing something she never thought she would be seeing.

Odile sets her shoulders. Von Rothbart knows her decision before anyone else in the room.

"I will become your wife," Odile says, and Siegfried's smile blinds like the sun.

The guests murmur. Some are clearly not happy that Siegfried has chosen a bride out of his tutor's daughter, some seem glad that he has made his decision finally. Von Rothbart watches as people gather around his daughter and how they congratulate her and want to get to know her now that she is going to be a queen, but the only queen he can think about is the swan queen.

The prince's mother comes to him at some point, also studying the young couple with great intensity.

"I would have thought you'd be happier to have such an advantageous marriage for your daughter," the dowager queen says. Von Rothbart watches as Siegfried pulls Odile into another dance. The two fit together well, that much must be said.

"Odile is still very young," von Rothbart states. "I do not know if she understands everything that comes with becoming a queen."

The dowager queen watches as Odile twirls and laughs at something Siegfried says.

"But you do not oppose?" she asks delicately. Von Rothbart hums thoughtfully.

"I am not opposed, but I do worry what her mother will say," he sighs and glances outside. "I should leave. She is probably waiting for our return."

"Your daughter could stay here," the dowager queen suggests. "It's her first ball, and it would be such a shame to separate them now when they are still getting to know each other. I can keep an eye on her."

Von Rothbart nods. He waits until the dance is over, and then he glances in Odile's direction meaningfully. His daughter immediately heads their way, her hand tightly in Siegfried's hand and her eyes shining with excitement.

"I need to return to your mother," von Rothbart says. The light dims in Odile's eyes. "Her majesty has promised to take care of you, so I expect you to be on your best behaviour."

Odile's face brightens and she quickly lays a kiss on his cheek.

"Please tell mama everything," she begs with her nervousness and excitement making her even more dazzling. Von Rothbart smiles with his eyes at the youth of his daughter.

"I will," he promises and then looks at Siegfried.

He lays a hand on the prince's shoulder and leans in closer. He makes a split-second decision, and magic flows so softly out of his hands that not even Odile notices it. Siegfried now thinks the girl he met at the lake was called Odile, not Odette.

"I am trusting you with my daughter, Siegfried," he says seriously. "Do not betray me."

Siegfried straightens his back and nods, suddenly much more serious. He seems to understand that this is not something said and forgotten.

Von Rothbart smiles at his daughter one last time, and then he leaves, his thoughts full of the swan queen and how she will react to this.

* * *

He watches her silently from the door as she lies heavily across the soft lounge, her face buried against the intricate fabric and her arms, her sobs voiceless and moveless. He isn't certain what she is grieving: the prince she wanted for herself, Odile becoming an adult, their daughter's perceived betrayal, or the spell that will keep Siegfried thinking that the girl he met at the lake was called Odile and not Odette.

"He's a fool, Odette," von Rothbart says quietly. "He wouldn't have ever seen you like I do. He didn't love you but an idea of you he had."

Odette's shoulders start to shake. He finally goes to her and wraps her in his arms. She curls up against him, and he mutely holds her as she lets herself mourn.

Eventually, there are no more tears to cry. He rubs her shoulders softly and closes his eyes for a moment. Her pain hurts almost like it was his own, but she had to see the truth. She could have never found true happiness with the prince, just another type of imprisonment she could have never gotten out of.

He doesn't say any of that. She already knows.

"Will he be good to her?" she asks, her voice muffled against his chest. His fingers paint small circles against her skin.

"I hope so," he murmurs.

The morning is near, oh so near, and he once again hopes that she will stay, but she doesn't. Eventually, she moves just the smallest amount and he has to let her go, but never without a goodbye. He walks her to the lake and sees her eyes, heavy with sorrow yet with a relief that he does not understand yet.

"Odile can never find out," she says. He caresses her face one last time.

"I'll do what I can," he promises, and the dawn takes her from him.

* * *

Odile comes to life in a way none of them expected. She gets a room at the palace and an invitation to stay there as much as she wants, but it's not long until she starts coming home for the evenings.

Their house now has much more life. Von Rothbart creates servants out of animals: kitchen staff out of mice, a butler from a hound, a housekeeper from a trusty horse. The staff is almost as mute as the swan maidens that sometimes visit the house, filling in other roles whenever they want to listen in on conversations their queen wants to know about. There are visitors each day, some clearly wishing to rub shoulders with the future queen's family, others simply wanting to pay their respects and get to know them.

Odette sometimes joins dinner parties. She always looks beautiful, and von Rothbart can't take his eyes off her when she sits opposite to him like a proper wife, wearing a pale blue dress with her wild hair tied onto a soft bun down on her neck, and his heart aches to have her there always.

Their visitors are charmed by the quiet and modest Odette who seems frail and pale and so tired, and they always look at him with pity in their eyes.

He doesn't want their pity, he wants Odette.

Odile is frequently the star of the dinner parties, leaving the prince in her shadow just like he prefers her to. For the first time in her life, she wears dresses in all the colours of the rainbow and gets to meet new people. She laughs and converses and shows them all just how wonderful she is, but her most beautiful smiles are reserved for the prince that is simply besotted with her.

The prince sometimes stays over with Odile, preferring to spend time with her instead of leaving her side even for a moment. Odette prefers to keep away from him, and one night, Siegfried asks von Rothbart about it.

Odile is there in the room. She instinctively glances towards the lake. Von Rothbart's eyes travel the same direction.

"She doesn't have anything against you," von Rothbart states and sips on wine. "She just needs a little more time."

"Like she needed with you?" Odile asks. Siegfried, the fool of a boy, doesn't catch the question that hides beneath the seemingly innocent one. Von Rothbart gives his daughter a look, and she backs down.

"Give her time, Odile," he tells his daughter. "This isn't exactly easy for either of us. We both thought you would stay with us for longer."

Odile looks thoughtful as she braids her fingers among Siegfried's.

* * *

Their daughter's wedding comes far too soon. Von Rothbart tries his hardest not to feel bitter how Odile gets everything she has ever wanted without having to wait for it for so many years, but Odette remains stoic in the face of it all.

That is why her request doesn't surprise him.

"I need to be there for the wedding," Odette states only a few hours before it is supposed to take place. They have been playing her frailness as an illness that might get worse any moment, and the plan was to have her too ill to join, but deep in his heart, von Rothbart always knew she would ask for this.

"It will hurt worse than when the king shot you," he says, still hoping he wouldn't have to do this, but if Odette is anything, she is stubborn. She nods and swallows.

"I couldn't forgive myself if I missed our daughter's wedding," Odette says and looks into his eyes with those wide, wondrous eyes of hers, and all he can do is obey his queen.

The pain is gruelling, even worse than she could have imagined, but she still takes it all and accepts it. The harsh sunshine of the day lands on her skin for the first time in so many years and she looks sickly, but there is a stubborn frown on her brow. He holds her hand and helps her walk when her steps nearly fail her, and together, they enter the church.

Odile sees her mother's pained face, but Odette's frown turns into a loving smile. Von Rothbart wraps an arm around her and worries his way through the ceremony.

At the feast, people stare at Odette and him when Odile rushes up to them, Siegfried never far behind.

"You shouldn't have come," she murmurs to her mother and wraps her in a hug. Odette answers the hug with a breath that is slightly too laborious to be natural.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Odette says and smiles at their daughter. "Look at you. You make such a beautiful bride, Odile."

And she does. Siegfried looks at Odile with so much love and Odile looks radiant, and when she looks at Siegfried, the two are so in love that it almost compares to the love von Rothbart feels for his Odette.

"You deserve the world, Odile," Odette murmurs softly, exhausted already. "I'm happy that you found someone who can give you that."

Von Rothbart kisses her knuckles and looks at her with an apology in his eyes, but she simply smiles back at him and allows him to wrap her in a hug. It eases the spell, after all, and makes the pain a little less sharp.

They watch as their young daughter settles into her role as a queen, and he kisses Odette's brow and paints apologies on her skin with his fingertips.

* * *

They pull away from the crowd once the sun starts to set. Her hands shake as she watches the sun set with human eyes for the first time in such a long time, and he battles to keep the spell going, sweat gathering at his brow.

The last rays of light grace her skin and then they are gone. A breath leaves her lungs and her body finally relaxes. The pain is gone. The spell no longer burns underneath his skin.

They slowly make their way to the others again. Odette's steps are lighter, but she is softly swaying on her feet. He holds her tightly, makes sure she never falters, constantly expecting her legs to give out underneath her.

There is a bench reserved for the two of them. Odette feels so small as she rests against his body and watches their daughter dance.

"You let her go," Odette murmurs and glances into his eyes. "Would you ever let me go?"

Von Rothbart caresses her face softly.

"I'm a selfish man, Odette," he answers and kisses her, and then they watch the dancing crowds twirling around in a large circle, like a whirlpool of colour and shining fabrics, their daughter at the centre of it all.

* * *

Their house is quiet again, though still more lively than before. Some still visit them out of a sense of duty, other because they genuinely seem to like the couple living by the lake, but none of the visitors matter as much as Odile and Siegfried. When Odile returns, the house comes to life again and Odette gladly joins them at the dinner table and him in his bed.

Odile's visits are always much too short. Siegfried is now a king and Odile a queen, but they suit one another. Sometimes, von Rothbart goes to the palace, but it is more difficult now. Odette lingers near him, always searching for comfort in him, and he is torn between the love he feels for his Odette and his daughter.

One night, when Odile and Siegfried have settled into Odile's old bedroom, Odette sits down onto his bed and studies him carefully. Von Rothbart meets her eyes but his fingers do not leave their task of removing his clothes.

"She's so happy with him," Odette says quietly. She looks so devastatingly human-like dressed in her pale blue gowns and in jewels that she has worn as a swan queen, but that is not the true Odette. Von Rothbart sits down next to her and starts brushing her hair. She remains deep in thought.

"She could have chosen someone much worse," he says eventually. Siegfried is good for their daughter despite how von Rothbart doubted him. He is not like his father. He would never willingly hurt another creature now that he knows pain can be felt even by innocent swans.

He is not like his father, but von Rothbart still wonders whether he should pay for his father's sins.

"I keep thinking that everything will go back to the way it was, but it doesn't," his Odette murmurs. "I wish she was still here with us."

She turns and he obligingly starts taking the dress off her.

"I think every parent thinks their children grow up too fast," he murmurs and watches as she slips the dress off her delicate frame and hangs it back in his closet, waiting for another night. She almost looks like herself like this, but instead of putting on her usual dress, she returns to the bed.

He's too afraid to ask what it means, so he doesn't.

"I miss her too," he just says and takes the morsels of affection Odette offers him.

* * *

"They keep glancing at my waist and thinking I don't notice."

Odette glances at their daughter. Odile seems annoyed, yet behind that annoyance is a slight discomfort, even a hint of fear. Odette lays a hand on Odile's back, and they walk quietly towards the shores of the lake. Swan maidens greet them mutely. Both mother and daughter seem unaware of von Rothbart's eyes following the two, just in case.

"You're married now," Odette states quietly. "They expect to have an heir to the throne soon enough."

Odile stops and stares at the water. She's biting her lip. It almost seems like she hesitates to speak her mind, something that is exceedingly rare of her indeed.

"I don't know if I'm ready to become a mother," Odile says with a wavering voice. Odette comforts their daughter with familiarity that stems from long years spent inside their peaceful bubble. Odette knows Odile as well as her father knows her.

"And you won't know that until you hold a child of your own in your arms," Odette states. "There's nothing to really prepare you for it, but if you want to delay that time, your father knows a spell that can be used to stop pregnancy."

Odile is quiet for a long moment. She stares at the water and how the moonlight glitters on its surface, and only once she has gathered her thoughts does she speak.

"Is that why I don't have any siblings?"

Odette sighs and pats the familiar stone bench in the garden. They sit close to each other, Odette holding their daughter's hands in her own and studying them with care.

"I had a difficult pregnancy with you," she tells Odile. "Shifting form before I knew of your existence could have hurt us both, and once your father realised what was going on, he had to lock me in the house during the days to keep me as a human."

Odette smiles at their daughter, a soft smile barely visible from this far away.

"But I wouldn't change anything," she says. "I love you, Odile, and just because we decided to wait until my spell is broken to have more children does not mean I would not have chosen you. We both love you. We both wanted you the moment we learned of you. I would live every day as a human if it meant keeping you safe."

Odile falls into her mother's embrace. Odette runs her fingers through Odile's hair when von Rothbart comes and sits down on Odile's other side.

"It hasn't always been easy, but I would change nothing if it meant losing you," von Rothbart tells their daughter and glances at Odette. "Your happiness is more important."

Odette caresses their daughter's back and looks thoughtful.

* * *

Sometimes, he has to leave Odette to visit the castle, but those times never get any easier. Odette is so lonely nowadays even though she always tells him that she can take a few hours alone every now and then.

He arrives at the palace and already longs for home, for the lake and the swan queen who sometimes curls up against him even in her swan form, allowing him to touch the soft feathers and adore her in all of her forms. His thoughts are all about her when he hears soft, breathless laughter, and he pauses.

Siegfried and Odile have ducked into a dark corner and are so close to each other that they must feel the other's heartbeat as well as their own. Odile has a satisfied smirk on her lips, and Siegfried's eyes worship her.

Von Rothbart is reminded of Odette and himself. He knows he has had the same worshipping look in his eyes so many times, knows that it has shone as bright as the morning sun. It is odd to see that same look on someone else's face, and even odder to see his daughter looked at in that way.

But Odile is happy. Her happiness is not hidden, but she carries it on her skin and in her eyes, she shows it in all her smiles and in the tinkling of her laughter.

That is how he knows he made the right choice. Odile's happiness matters more than his revenge.

He clears his throat and the young lovers pull apart quickly, a blush rising to both faces, and he gives them a raised eyebrow that makes Siegfried shuffle and Odile laugh breathily.

Their touches linger and their eyes meet so often, and he reminds himself that he can also be happy even though he does not have the same.

* * *

Their peace lasts longer than von Rothbart thought it would, but still not long enough. One evening, Odile storms to the house, her eyes filled with tears and a thousand accusations. Odette and von Rothbart glance at one another, their fingers still lingering amongst the other's, and watch their daughter running to them with growing trepidation.

"Is it true?" Odile screams. "Did he meet you by the lake?"

Her tears have spilled over. Odette looks heart-broken that it has come to this, and Odile takes a step back as von Rothbart raises his arm. Odette is trembling, lost in her sorrows and uncertainty, but von Rothbart calmly lays a hand on Odile's shoulder.

"Let's talk," he murmurs and pulls Odile away from her mother.

Odile is crying tears of anger and hurt as they walk. Odette is left standing in the middle of the garden and von Rothbart knows when she slips towards the house and escapes into the only place no one will suspect to look for her.

He lets Odile stew in her anger until she is calm enough to listen to sense, and even then, it takes him a long while to find the right words.

"What does it truly change if Siegfried met your mother before he met you?" he asks Odile. The girl gives him a dark look, but frowns in thought.

"It means he fell in love with mama instead of me," she states. Von Rothbart shakes his head.

"It actually means the exact opposite," he says. "Siegfried saw something he did not understand and was fascinated by it, but only you could hold his attention for long enough for that infatuation to turn into love. He would not and could not have loved your mother. He created a dream inside his mind, but you were the one to take its place. You were what he always needed and longed for, not your mother."

They walk for a moment longer. Odile seems to have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he is so calm about it, but he has had almost two years now to mull on the matter and find peace with it.

Odette has not once looked at Siegfried with longing after that night. That night was a mistake, something that should have never happened, but he has forgiven her. He forgave her the night Siegfried proposed to Odile and Odette wept in his arms and understood that Siegfried's love was meant for someone else.

"How can you be so calm?" Odile asks in a shaky voice. Her anger is starting to subside, but the tears still flow. Von Rothbart embraces their daughter.

"I know Odette's heart. She never loved Siegfried, just the idea of there being something else than the lake for her. Moreover, has Siegfried ever wavered in his loyalty to you?"

Odile swallows thickly. Von Rothbart rubs her arm and glances at the house whose windows shine bright in the darkness of the night.

"She loves you, Odile, more than she loves life itself. She could never hate you for having Siegfried, nor could she ever want to take him from you when he makes you so happy."

They walk towards the house in silence that is far less heavy than it could be, and there Odette waits for them. She hugs their daughter tightly.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you," she whispers to Odile. "We just wanted you to be happy."

Their eyes meet before Odette coaxes Odile into her room. Von Rothbart has enough decency to let the two women speak amongst themselves. It will take time, but eventually Odile will understand that they only wanted to protect her.

Von Rothbart pours himself more wine than strictly necessary and settles in the dining room to wait.

The house is dark and still when Odette comes to him. He gives her a nod and pours her a glass, and they sit in the dark dining room sipping on wine that tastes like ash and does nothing to ease their worry and pain.

"How is she?" von Rothbart asks.

"Fell asleep a while ago," Odette answers and studies the tablecloth. "Cried herself to sleep, poor thing."

Somehow it's a relief to know that there are no more tears, but it does nothing to ease his anger. He wants to wring Siegfried's neck for breaking their daughter's heart, but he also wants to make Odile's pain go away. She does not deserve this. She should still be the happy little girl she was just a little time ago, such a happy little girl.

"Would you still love me if I was a human?" Odette asks suddenly. He looks up, his reflexes dulled by the wine.

"I don't see how I could ever _not_ love you," he tells her blankly. Odette studies his face for a moment.

They sit there in the dining room for many a long hour and listen to any hint of their daughter having a nightmare.

* * *

"Sunrise," Odette murmurs and gets up. He has been so deep in thought that he hasn't even noticed pitch black turning into greys and blues. He looks at the woman and nods and smiles tiredly. Perhaps he slept for a moment, because he thinks Odette looks different now. Something in her face makes him think that perhaps there is still hope.

She glides to the patio doors and steps out. He follows her path with his eyes when he hears the front door being opened.

He does not get up even though he hears a hesitant call. Eventually, Siegfried finds him there in the dining room, always waiting for the morning to come.

"Is it true?" he asks. "Did you curse Odette?"

Von Rothbart empties his glass of wine in one large gulp. His eyes never left Odette's back. She stands on the shore like a thousand times before, but this morning, there is something wrong in that image. He doesn't quite understand it.

He finally looks at Siegfried.

"First you break Odette's heart, and then you break Odile's. I should break your neck, Siegfried."

Siegfried has the decency to look ashamed. He slumps on the chair Odette occupied for most of the night and buries his head in his hands.

"But why?" Siegfried murmurs. "Why such a curse?"

"It wasn't meant to go like that," von Rothbart says bitterly. "She was supposed to be happy, but instead she tried to flee and I lost my temper."

They sit there in heavy silence, and the first ray of light graces the world. Von Rothbart swallows thickly and looks away from the morning sun.

"I was going to kill you," he says. Siegfried flinches and looks lost. "For what your father did."

"My father?"

"He shot Odette with the crossbow I gave you. She nearly died. I barely managed to slow her fall enough to push her into the water instead of the shore. She would have broken her neck, and then nothing would have saved her."

He stops for a long moment.

"The moment you pulled the trigger I would have had all the right to kill you as well. I could have left you for the swan maidens, but I wanted the satisfaction myself. But then you had to go and try to steal Odette from me."

Siegfried is too still. He looks lost like the first time von Rothbart ever saw him, betrayed and hurt and too young. He swallows thickly.

"For all these reasons I could kill you, but I won't, because Odile would never forgive me."

Siegfried's eyes are full of pain. A soft hand lowers on von Rothbart's hand. He looks numbly at Odette's fingers, at a ring he recognises from having stared at it for hours on end, and then at her face. She is pale and beautiful and hazy in the morning sun, and for a moment he thinks he has died or fallen asleep because this cannot be real, because she could never be there.

Everything else disappears as her fingers caress his face so softly and delicately and looks at him with those wide and wondrous eyes of hers.

She pulls him up.

"You're drunk and dead on your feet, Wolfgang," she murmurs and pulls him towards the bedroom, and he follows her blindly.

She curls up against him without even asking, and he buries his face in her hair.

"Please stay," he begs. "Please don't go."

He doesn't hear an answer, just feels the weight of a ring on a delicate finger like he has always imagined it, like it has always belonged there, heavy and warm, and she kisses him softly and exhaustion takes him and she holds him with her human arms.

* * *

He wakes up with the sun on his face and Odette in his arms. No one closed the curtains nor the window, but he is glad because it makes it all the more real. He studies her for a long moment before she even stirs, and then she only blinks and smiles sleepily and nuzzles against him, so soft and warm and solid and real.

The intensity of his eyes softens, and he studies her hand, the hand with the ring on it. He looks at it and wonders when she took it, when she slipped it into her finger, how long she planned for it, and her fingers curl to take hold of his shirt.

It takes a while for him to get a hold of himself again, and by that time, she has woken up. Her fingers caress his face, always feeling for something and needing to just touch. He can't take his eyes off her. She looks so wonderful with that gentle smile on her face and the sunshine that forms a halo around her head, and the ring on her finger looks like it has always been there.

They dress each other in complete silence. She hangs the swan queen's dress in his wardrobe, and he kisses her neck as he buttons her dress, and then, they hold hands and leave the safety of their rooms.

He barely registers Odile and Siegfried's presence in the dining room. Odette pulls him closer to them as she kisses their daughter's brow, and Odile stares at her mother openly, as shaken by her human form as von Rothbart. Siegfried, that foolish boy, is not clued into it, but even he senses something is different now.

Wolfgang keeps looking at Odette, just looking at her, not quite believing that she is finally his.

"Will you walk with me?" Odette asks.

"Of course," Wolfgang murmurs.

They walk to the shore and stand there, the waves lapping at their feet. The swan maidens study this new sight curiously and one at a time, they fade into nothingness. Odette looks him in the eye and then she kisses him, and oh how soft and warm and real she is.

His heart soars.

"I don't love you any less just because we began like that," she murmurs.

 _She chose me, she wants me, she loves me_ , his heart sings and he smiles with his heart.


End file.
